India to declare Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh as International

June 25, 2020: The union cabinet chaired by the prime minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for the declaration of Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh as an International Airport.

Kushinagar is located in the north-eastern part of Uttar Pradesh about 50 km east of Gorakhpur and is one of the important Buddhist pilgrimage sites.

Kushinagar
Kushinagar is where Gautama Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana. It is regarded as a sacred pilgrimage centre where Buddhists from all over the world come. Kushinagar is dotted with several other Buddhist sites in the nearby surroundings like Sravasti (238 km), Kapilvastu (190 km) and Lumbini (195 km) that makes it an attraction for both followers and visitors. Kushinagar already serves as the presenting site for Buddhist circuit pilgrimage spanning across India and Nepal.

Buddhist Circuit
“The Buddhist Circuit is a key pilgrimage destination for 530 million practising Buddhists across the globe. Hence the declaration of Kushinagar Airport as an International Airport is expected to offer improved connectivity, a wider choice of services at competitive costs to the air-travellers resulting in boosting of domestic/international tourism and economic development of the region. On any given day, around 200-300 devotees from Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Burma, etc are coming and offering their prayers at Kushinagar,” says the release.